Leinart practices

Matt Leinart, the newest quarterback on the Texans' roster, spent his first practice watching, learning and throwing a few scout-team passes.

"You can tell he's played a lot of football," coach Gary Kubiak said. "He spent the last two days with (quarterback coach) Greg (Knapp) and kind of getting down our base stuff.

"We'll see how far we can bring him, but I think he fits in what we do, and we're excited to work with him. To have Matt walk in your locker room gives us more confidence at the quarterback position and makes us stronger."

"My mindset is just to learn and compete and to soak it in as much as I can," Leinart said. "It's a completely different offense that I'm used to as far as the terminology. I think I'll get it pretty quick. I've just got to keep studying.

"It's more play-action stuff. That's what I did a lot in college (at USC) and something we actually didn't do a whole lot in Arizona because Kurt (Warner) had his strength with four or five wides. We weren't under the center a whole lot."

Daniels to be limited

After watching tight end Owen Daniels practice, coach Gary Kubiak plans to play him 20 to 25 plays against Indianapolis.

"I'm feeling good about that right now," Kubiak said about increasing Daniels' playing time. "As far as him starting, let me see how he feels. I want to do whatever is comfortable for him. I don't want the pressure on O.D. To me, the pressure is on us to bring him back the right way."

Daniels, who is playing for the first time since suffering a knee injury in the eighth game at Buffalo, would like to start but is just happy to be back on the field.

"Maybe we'll start two tight ends," Daniels said, meaning he and Joel Dreessen. "The plan all along was to get me ready for this game, and I'm ready to go."